Food Fight (also styled as Charley Chuck's Food Fight) is an arcade game released by Atari in 1983. The player guides young Charley Chuck, who is trying to eat an ice cream cone before it melts, while avoiding four chefs bent on stopping him.
In Food Fight, the player controls a young boy named Charley Chuck. The object of the game is to eat an ice cream cone located on the opposite side of an open playfield. The ice cream is slowly melting, and must be consumed before it melts completely. Standing between Charley and the ice cream are four chefs named Oscar, Angelo, Jacques, and Zorba.
The chefs appear from holes in the floor of the level and will chase after Charley. The chefs are identified by the shape of their toques: Oscar's is big and round; Angelo's is short and rectangular; Jacques' is curved; and Zorba's is tall and slender.
Scattered throughout the level are piles of food, such as pies, peas, tomatoes, and bananas. Both the player and the chefs can grab food from the piles to throw at each other. The supplies of most foods are limited, but watermelon, which appears either on special levels exclusively or with other foods in later levels, is unlimited in supply. If the chefs are hit by food thrown either by the player or by other chefs, they are stunned for a few seconds. If the player is hit, a life is lost. The player also loses a life if a chef touches Charley, if Charley falls through an open hole, or if the ice cream melts before it is eaten.
Points are scored for each chef hit by food thrown by the player (up to 1000 points each), luring a chef over an open hole and for each remaining pile of food on the level. The ice cream is worth 500 points multiplied by the level number, up to a maximum of 25,000 points from level 50 onwards to the last regular level, level 125. On occasion, if the player reaches the ice cream cone just before it melts, the game will present the player with an instant replay of that level.
Food Fight was developed by General Computer Corporation (GCC), the same company that produced Midway's Ms. Pac-Man. Like Ms. Pac-Man, GCC's connection to Atari was born out of accusations of copyright infringement. The company had produced a kit that would speed up Atari's Missile Command arcade machines, but with General Computer claiming the copyright for the modified game. Fearing for its intellectual property rights, Atari sued GCC for USD$15 million. The case was settled out of court, with Atari contracting GCC to produce video games for them, including Food Fight and Quantum.
In an interview Jonathan Hurd said everyone at GCC contributed to the development. The initials of the people who were most heavily involved in creating Food Fight are in the high score table.
1 Player Start 1
2 Players Start 2
Coin 1 5
Coin 2 6
Service 1 9
P1 Button 1 LCONTROL or Mouse B1
AD Stick X Analog Mouse X
AD Stick X Analog Dec LEFT
AD Stick X Analog Inc RIGHT
AD Stick Y Analog Mouse Y
AD Stick Y Analog Dec UP
AD Stick Y Analog Inc DOWN
P2 Button 1 A
AD Stick X 2 Analog n/a
AD Stick X 2 Analog Dec D
AD Stick X 2 Analog Inc G
AD Stick Y 2 Analog n/a
AD Stick Y 2 Analog Dec R
AD Stick Y 2 Analog Inc F
Reviewer:
RetroNostalgic
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
May 30, 2021
Subject:
Simple and fun
I had never heard of food fight before today. I was missing out. It was so fun to throw food at the chef's.
I also liked that if charlie was holding a piece of food as he ate the ice cream cone he had that piece of food to start the next level. Which made the next level easier to get through.
I also liked the screen at the end. I think it had the high scores. So colorful.
Food fight was simple and fun. Its a classic.
Reviewer:
tcountry
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
August 5, 2019
Subject:
Awesome game.....brings back memories but....
This was a favorite game of mine in the arcade. Someone asked if it had two joysticks.......yes it did. It's hard playing on a computer keyboard.....cause you have to stop to throw the food. If you keep moving and hit the throw button it doesn't work. That's why I rated it a 4. Still enjoyable though!!!!!!!!
Reviewer:
Jerry Cornelius
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
June 26, 2018
Subject:
One Of My All Time Favorites!
I've always loved this game and it plays just as great and is as much fun as I remembered it from the arcades.
Reviewer:
Leonel_VHS
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September 8, 2016
Subject:
Game does not boot up
...which is too bad. this is one of my faves. :(
Reviewer:
Throop
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
June 5, 2015
Subject:
Want this to work so bad
FoodFight is my all time favorite stand up but I cannot get the game to boot here beyond the NVRAM test. Is this working for others? Any clues what to check if it is just me?
Reviewer:
GoodNewsJimDotCom
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
November 14, 2014
Subject:
Great game in arcade
Food Fight is a game in the arcade which is pretty fair in that it isn't a quarter eater. I can't figure out the controls for an XBOX 360 controller, I thought it had two joysticks in the arcade... Anyway, I'm not taking points away from this game because I can't figure out the controls here. In the arcade, this is a great game 5/5